2018 Princess Half Marathon

[bumbershoot]

Seeing a rumor on Facebook that Princess Half Marathon will not take place in 2019 due to road construction.

Again, it seems to be a rumor at this time. Anyone have any solid info?

I’ve seen one person stating this. And everyone else is referring to him.

So... I know Princess Half Marathon weekend takes a lot of flack on these boards, but honestly I thought the weekend was great.

I was disappointed there weren’t fistfights this year. Sigh.

It takes flack because stuff happens.

The weather was nice and warm so I could actually breathe at the start of the races

So could I but now I’ve had tight lungs for two days because of the heat. I would have preferred my inhaler and race scarf at the beginning than this!

If you're a faster runner, the course is pretty clear at the beginning to get around people and after that it's easy to run the race you want to. No bottlenecks on the half course as bad as boardwalk and Hollywood Studios areas always end up being.

Ah to be faster.

As a woman, I really enjoyed experiencing a race that most of the participants are female

Huh. I’m so the opposite. In college my training partners were the guys on crew not the women.

It would be too crowded despite the wide roadways

Come back with me and stay at my pace and tell me about the wide roadways.

A lot of the previous posts about the expo and race left me with the impression that things would be out of control like some spring break expose.

Because it has been like that. This year they used three buildings. It spread out the crazy. That bldg with the rundisney merchandise didn’t even exist last year.

The two “hills” in mile 10 and the “hill” in mile 11 didn’t seem nearly as bad this year!

I agree.

1) I didn't know this was an option and 2) why would you want to do this??

To cheat.

However, when someone is very obese, walking, huffing and puffing and wearing an A bib and I’m passing them in the first mile there’s got to be some cheating going on.

One could also remember that POT can be something like two years old and a LOT can happen in two years.

I definitely noticed quite a few people who lied about expected pace for the 10k.

Or didn’t anticipate illness and injury when they submitted it.

I just assumed a lot of the people used whatever their best 10k POT was, instead of a half which would have more accurately corralled them.

Why would one use a slower race??

I ran the 5k and 10k. I was considering signing up for next year’s half specifically because I saw older, larger ladies wearing half marathon medals. We felt so good after the 10k that we thought we might be ready to try a longer race.

Now I’m questioning that decision. It never occurred to me that there may have been cheating.

The likelihood of you seeing the exact women who may have cheated is pretty low.

My concern is not necessarily that they cheated, but that what I assumed was possible didn’t happen. It was SO encouraging to see half marathon and challenge medals worn by people with non-runner physiques. It made me stop doubting about trying to do a half.

Don’t let a few cheaters mess with your head.

The ones I heard about were the teens in red shirts. I was around them for quite awhile. They were skinny and young and wearing cotton but not sweating. And supposedly they tried to go over a hill or something like that to cheat, and were caught. Doesn’t mean all skinny teens will cheat.

told me I was killing it (not what I wanted to hear) and I told that I was pretty beat. I was averaging 9:30 mm pace for the first five miles and my limited training was more at a 10mm pace.

Uh, that’s killing it in MY book. Not sure why you’re retiring from running!

The cloud cover helped.

Ah to have had cloud cover...

 

[1lilspark]

If you register for the 10K outright, you don’t have to provide a PoT - it’s just estimated finish time.

This has been in place for years and years, and it’s been abused since inception.

Or you could be like me for W&D last year where I overestimated where I thought I’d be in the 9 months between the January registration date and getting my 10k bib ended up in D but bumped back with my sister in F ( if I were solo I would of still bounced to E)

 

[bumbershoot]

Tracking missed my start which threw all the tracking off for the rest of the time. It seems to have normalized in the results, but it was irksome. Scared my cousin’s husband too.

Had a decent first half. Then the heat hit and all the extra electrolytes hit my belly and I began my tour of the portopotties.

In cone alley (and all course narrowing after) NO ONE was following any etiquette whatsoever and a Mary Poppins started making fun of those who wanted to run. Loudly. And she and her group refused to budge. By the time I was there the traffic was solid on the other side, and my ankle isn’t strong enough to risk holes in the grass.

It was then that I lost my mojo to keep with intervals. Never got it back. My hips DESPISE walking. It hurts me tremendously. To have to walk the second half of the Half was torture. I wish I’d seen that lady’s name who was refusing to let people pass and was making fun of runners. And walking put more steps on my feet, which were already hurting bc my two week old Brooks were not, it turned out, good for my feet.

Id worn my altras for the 10k and was missing them.

The wet sponges were lifesavers except that they helped take off my sunscreen.

I met the male half of the creators of the Hogwarts running club on the course. That was awesome.

Some of those mile markers seemed really off. If I was having a much longer mile but getting back on track with my mileage compared to the markers, they didn’t have them in the right places.

They had sports beans still by the time I got there. But it was maybe a third of a serving. I don’t feel that that’s adequate especially compared to a proper gu from previous years.


I looooooved the white cherry Powerade. Yum.


I’m still yearning for the hummus I got in tot 2013 food box. So much better than the fake nachos.


Lost a yurbud cover just before heading off to the half corrals. Sigh.


Having to use the monorails to get back to your monorail resort, when you’re slow and slower than anticipated, and you’re disgusting and sweaty, and have dirty wet clothes in your gear bag, and have to go through security lines to get to the monorail, is NOT a “deluxe” option. It’s also THE longest walk of all the options (unless you parked in Egypt and chose to walk back). That hurt.


GFVillas had fruit and granola bars out for runners before the half. Lovely. Two years of bay lake (and contemporary) ignoring us was getting old.

GFV was an utter joy.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

And for amusement of people who don't read the Running 2018 thread (and he ran slower than what a "B" Corral should but wouldn't you also run slower in that outfit)

My husband's Half Outfit:

Before:

After:

He lost his Garter Belt around Mile 2 as it hurt and at that point, he sweated enough for the stockings to stay up.

I'll download the photo pass soon.

 

[Bree]

Look, I’m not in perfect running physique either and trying to lose 15-20 pounds. I was not fat shaming as many of you think I was. It was an observation about LYING & CHEATING. One of those women that I saw I recognized from last year in the same situation. Did she affect my race? Not in the least. It’s good that those women are out there and they should be proud of themselves, but do it honestly! I feel the same way about all the 5yo in the A corral for the 5K that literally walked across the starting line with their families. My 12yo daughter is what I consider a very fast runner and because of all the people who lied about their finish time for the 5K it ruined the experience for her.

I’m really sorry if I hurt anyone’s feelings. It wasn’t my intent to make anyone feel bad. If I could take my original post back I would. Sorry!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Having to use the monorails to get back to your monorail resort, when you’re slow and slower than anticipated, and you’re disgusting and sweaty, and have dirty wet clothes in your gear bag, and have to go through security lines to get to the monorail, is NOT a “deluxe” option. It’s also THE longest walk of all the options (unless you parked in Egypt and chose to walk back). That hurt.


GFVillas had fruit and granola bars out for runners before the half. Lovely. Two years of bay lake (and contemporary) ignoring us was getting old.

GFV was an utter joy.

I loved VGF when I stayed there for Dark Side 2016 for their level of service. Glad they kept it up! They provided PowerAde and Cliff Bars to the room the day of the 10k along with a note! The only thing I hated was the monorail situation. It is also why we won't stay at a monorail resort for a race weekend that starts in EPCOT. Since 2017 started in MK - it made it a better experience. This time, Boardwalk did provide a thank you Princess Runner note to the room + a text message the day before the race.

They didn't have a bus back to the resorts? I know from my two Dark Side experiences - we were always able to get a bus back to VGF.

 

[Bree]

I ran the 5k and 10k. I was considering signing up for next year’s half specifically because I saw older, larger ladies wearing half marathon medals. We felt so good after the 10k that we thought we might be ready to try a longer race.

Now I’m questioning that decision. It never occurred to me that there may have been cheating.

There is cheating in every race across the country including the Boston Marathon.

Those calculators are only accurate if someone is properly trained, which due to life doesn't always happen. For example, I've run sub 50 minute 10ks on training runs, my half PR is 2:12, and my only marathon is 6:15. All of these races were in the past 4 months. I bet people seeing me hobbling the later half of the marathon thought that I cheated since I was in corral D, but I submitted a valid POT to be there. Just saying that people could've used results from a shorter race anytime in the past two years, and fitness can increase or decrease quite a bit in that length of time.

All I was saying is that RD has a method for corral placement if you submit a 10K as a POT. That’s it.

 

[KingLlama]

I feel like any moment now, someone’s gonna post a link to that “This is Me” song from “The Greatest Showman”.

Which I love, by the way.

 

[runalarm]

I looooooved the white cherry Powerade. Yum.

I agree! It was nice to have a clear beverage too. There have been too many races where I've spilled a blue drink on a non-blue shirt.

Well I had a good race weekend. For the 10K I ran with my 10 year old. My husband pushed our other daughter in a wheelchair stroller so the 4 of us walked to the wheelchair start together and then my 10 year old and I dropped back to the A corral after the wheelchairs started (we were placed in A corral). We got stepped on and pushed aside by some people that just had to be in the very front for whatever reason. I made sure we stayed on the right hand side because I didn't want to get pushed over and tripped when the race started but it seemed like most people around us just wanted to be in front of the camera, they weren't necessarily starting out super fast.

For the half I was in A corral but my husband was in B so I started with him. On a good day we can both run half marathons under 1:50 but we knew this wasn't going to be a PR race. It was more hot/humid than we were used to plus my husband had the flu a week before and hadn't run in a couple weeks so he wasn't the most trained he's ever been. Had we run the whole time we probably could have come in under 2 hours but we stopped for nearly all the photo opportunities and had fun!

There were people who I questioned if they were in the proper corral but neither of my races were affected by it. People start in the "wrong" spot in nearly every race I've done. The worst wasn't at Disney, it was a half in my college town. According to my results I passed over 700 people in the first 5K of the race. It was extremely bottlenecked and I had to walk in some spots, but I still came in under 1:50 with a PR.

 

[Gemini1131]

There was definitely a bus back to poly, shades of green, and vgf. I was happy it was there and didn’t have to find the monorail back. Unfortunately no power aide or cliff bars before but I was in the dvc villas so maybe people in the hotel got some. We did have a red carpet entrance to the monorail

 

[joan4mickey]

I am a recovering drug addict of 23 years. I know addiction. I know what it looks like, how it feels and that it comes in MANY forms. I know the only way to beat it is to work the program and surrender all my crap every day. As a addict, I will alway be one and so it is easy to switch one addition for another, and I fight that battle everyday. And I know my switch from drug has been to comfort myself with food. Each of us has to look inward to find out what makes us tick and to change those things that are harmful to us physically, spiritually and emotionally. It is a constant process as life changes, and the only thing that each of us can change is ourselves.
There is a difference between empowering some one and enabling some one. I am probably hyper-sensitive to what kind of encouragement I get and will evaluate it so that I know that I am making the right decision for my life. Life is about choices, choose wisely.
I will get off my soap box now. This is written only to share how I feel and hope that it will encourage some one along the way.

*I can't figure out why my font and letter size keeps changing as I type??

 

[Bree]

The wet sponges were lifesavers except that they helped take off my sunscreen.

They had sports beans still by the time I got there. But it was maybe a third of a serving. I don’t feel that that’s adequate especially compared to a proper gu from previous years.

Having to use the monorails to get back to your monorail resort, when you’re slow and slower than anticipated, and you’re disgusting and sweaty, and have dirty wet clothes in your gear bag, and have to go through security lines to get to the monorail, is NOT a “deluxe” option. It’s also THE longest walk of all the options (unless you parked in Egypt and chose to walk back). That hurt.


GFVillas had fruit and granola bars out for runners before the half. Lovely. Two years of bay lake (and contemporary) ignoring us was getting old.

GFV was an utter joy.

They weren’t handing out sponges when I was on the course. I was wondering what those tables covered in black trash bags were! I could have used one or three.

I thought the packs of sports beans looked tiny. I brought my own. Looking into trying tailwind that I’ve read about here. One less thing for me to carry is a good thing!

There were busses back to the MK resorts. I walked back to Beach Club via Epcot and didn’t have to go through bag check or metal detectors. I entered over by where the finish line was and there was a clear path straight into Epcot over by the bathrooms on the left hand side. I went straight to the turnstiles. I assumed it was because you had to go through bag check to get into the race area???

Beach Club had coffee for the runners, but I didn’t take a look to see what else was there. I also got a text and letter under the room door. I thought it was a nice touch!

 

[Bree]

I am a recovering drug addict of 23 years. I know addiction. I know what it looks like, how it feels and that it comes in MANY forms. I know the only way to beat it is to work the program and surrender all my crap every day. As a addict, I will alway be one and so it is easy to switch one addition for another, and I fight that battle everyday. And I know my switch from drug has been to comfort myself with food. Each of us has to look inward to find out what makes us tick and to change those things that are harmful to us physically, spiritually and emotionally. It is a constant process as life changes, and the only thing that each of us can change is ourselves.
There is a difference between empowering some one and enabling some one. I am probably hyper-sensitive to what kind of encouragement I get and will evaluate it so that I know that I am making the right decision for my life. Life is about choices, choose wisely.
I will get off my soap box now. This is written only to share how I feel and hope that it will encourage some one along the way.

*I can't figure out why my font and letter size keeps changing as I type??

Thank you for sharing.

My husband has been sober for 8.5 years. He also turned to food as a comfort. Then he was in a horrific motorcycle accident 3 years ago (van pulled out in front of him) and almost died. He was immobile for quite awhile and put on a lot of weight. It’s just now that he’s able to hike and walk again without severe pain. He needs another surgery, but he wants to lose weight first because it will be about a two month recovery.

 

[PrincessV]

I had an... interesting... weekend. Lots of stupid things happened that had nothing to do with the races, but all added up and, added to the usual Princess nonsense, made for a less-than thrilling experience. I've never been so happy to be DONE with a race weekend, lol!

Expo: I went in the afternoon Fri and it was great! No lines, very few people at all, and it was easy to get what I needed and get out.

10K: had a fantastic time! Rocked my outfit, played with friends, took a ton of pics. Yep, I was one of those horrible people who started in A (no, I didn't cheat - that was my assigned corral), but wasn't fast... FTR, I was never in anyone's way, and I did plenty of passing of other people, who were also not in my way. It was such a pleasant experience! Character lines were long, even that early in the race, so our group took turns running ahead to get into lines, then took group pics when folks caught up. Neglected to bring sunglasses, which I completely regretted by the time we were on the BW. FYI once the Balloon Ladies pass the Big Ball photo stop, they shut it down. I was at the Pluto stop when the balloons passed, so Big Ball was next and when I got the,re the photogs said they were told no more pics. I've never seen that happen before.

Half: I was one of the 9,000+ people stuffed into corral F and had hoped the mini-wave system would work as well as it has for other races... not so much. The course congestion was just astounding from start to finish. And the course etiquette was genuinely the worst I've ever seen. I've done a lot of WDW races and I rarely let stuff get to me - but it got to me this time. The stopping dead in the middle of the course to turn around and snap selfies was the worst: happened on Main St. and again at the castle. It was a dead stop going into the castle. Lines for castle pics were way longer than I was willing to wait, but a very kind stranger offered to snap a pic with my phone - thank you, stranger! Stopped for a couple pics heading back out World Dr., did lots of running in the grass (which isn't really a complaint - it felt so nice after miles of asphalt!) because it was the only way to move at my pace. Listen, I'm not fast, and I run-walk, so it's not like I'm some elite runner here... but we really do need to leave at least a single lane open for faster people to pass! I've heard so many people say "there wasn't anywhere to go!" but that simply isn't true. I never had a problem finding someone walking behind whom I could tuck in for my walk breaks, instead of walking beside them and blocking more space. It's all about being aware. I actually loved the weather - it was just about perfect by my Floridian standards! But I understand how brutal it was for folks who don't do well in it, so kudos to all who struggled through.

I'll definitely consider doing the Princess 5K or 10K again in the future, but I am tapping out of the PHM after this.

 

[KingLlama]

Can I ask a newbie question that I've seen hinted at, but never completely addressed?(and if the answer is in this thread somewhere and I've missed it, I apologize)

Why is the PHM so different from the other Disney halfs in terms of etiquette, "cheating", etc.? Is it just a completely different demographic(and I don't mean gender/age, I mean veteran runners vs. those who typically don't run races) than the other races, or are there logistical differences that cause the issues? Or both?

 

[PrincessV]

Can I ask a newbie question that I've seen hinted at, but never completely addressed?(and if the answer is in this thread somewhere and I've missed it, I apologize)

Why is the PHM so different from the other Disney halfs in terms of etiquette, "cheating", etc.? Is it just a completely different demographic(and I don't mean gender/age, I mean veteran runners vs. those who typically don't run races) than the other races, or are there logistical differences that cause the issues? Or both?

All good questions that I don't think anyone can answer with any surety. I think it's a combination of things: rD packing way too many people on a race course, a larger than avg number of new runners, more people running who are unsure of their ability and/or haven't trained as well as they'd like, more people more interested in having fun vs. running a race. And also sparkly things. Other than the first one (rD making races too full), I don't think any one of those items is a problem on its own, but combine it all together, and you get the Princess Effect, maybe.

 

[joan4mickey]

Thank you for sharing.

My husband has been sober for 8.5 years. He also turned to food as a comfort. Then he was in a horrific motorcycle accident 3 years ago (van pulled out in front of him) and almost died. He was immobile for quite awhile and put on a lot of weight. It’s just now that he’s able to hike and walk again without severe pain. He needs another surgery, but he wants to lose weight first because it will be about a two month recovery.

That's a lot of stuff you DH has had to deal with but sounds like he is still working the program and that is a plus as I'm sure he has had to be on pain meds too. Also your reports of running with your daughter are always heartwarming to read.

@PrincessV...nice report. I would not do this race if I were in a back corral. When I get past mile 7 or 8 I start to see the parade of people in the MK parking lot and it gets worse I pass the MK entrance parking arch. And it is hot for me at that point and I think those poor ladies have so much farther to go with so much heat.

 

[Ariel484]

Can I ask a newbie question that I've seen hinted at, but never completely addressed?(and if the answer is in this thread somewhere and I've missed it, I apologize)

Why is the PHM so different from the other Disney halfs in terms of etiquette, "cheating", etc.? Is it just a completely different demographic(and I don't mean gender/age, I mean veteran runners vs. those who typically don't run races) than the other races, or are there logistical differences that cause the issues? Or both?

This is...like...the eternal question. I've wondered about this before too...scattered thoughts below that may not make sense.

I've done Princess twice - once in 2011 and a second time last year. In 2011, it was totally different - the race was newer and smaller (I think that was the 3rd year they had it? And there was something like 14K participants), there was no 10K/challenge component, I don't remember hearing/seeing anything about corral jumping, cheating, etc. (doesn't mean that it didn't happen, of course), and I personally don't remember etiquette being that bad. runDisney had just become "runDisney" (formerly the Disney Endurance Series I think) so their social media presence wasn't what it is now. Not as many people really knew about the races back then.

Obviously a few things have changed since then.
- I think the biggest thing is that runDisney's popularity greatly increased, and they began to add more races and to expand the capacity of the races they already offered. Example: In 2013 I did the WDW Half for the first time - exact same course as Princess - but the field was suddenly HUGE at 22K participants. That one remains my worst-ever runDisney race experience because I expected it to be like I'd remembered at Princess (frolicking through the course with tons of room and minimal photo lines), but it was incredibly crowded and I remember barely being able to run down Main Street, even though I started in the same/similar corral. Princess eventually grew to be that big, too. They made the corralling system better (it used to be 6 corrals starting every 10 minutes...then lots more corrals that were smaller starting every 2-5 minutes...now, whatever they're doing, which doesn't necessarily seem better?), but going from 14K to 22K was just insane.
- Princess seems to be their most consistently popular, best-selling race weekend - it was, I think, the first to add the 10K/challenge, and I think it's widely regarded as the most-welcoming, least intimidating (I guess?) weekend for newer runners. You will see a lot of first-timers at Princess (myself included, it was my first-ever half marathon). And newer runners just don't know race etiquette (again, I'll include 2011 Me in that...I didn't know what I was doing). runDisney publishes guidelines in their event guides, but they can't make people read them.
- I think social media plays a big role. People have runDisney blogs, Instagram accounts, etc. They want hits on their sites and head pats/congrats for getting a medal (notice I said "getting a medal," not "finishing the race" - looking at you, cheaters and corral jumpers!) or posting an awesome race/medal picture (see the previous post where people were taking selfies in the middle of Main Street). I think the mindset of "I paid for this race, I'm getting my picture/medal/etc." is pretty big at princess...I hate to say it, but it's a sort of sense of entitlement that I just don't see at the other race weekends.
- Along with the "look at me!" aspect of social media, I think another thing is that thanks to the internet, it's now widely known that what runDisney publishes on their website in regards to sweeping, who gets medals, etc. doesn't really line up with what they actually do. You don't HAVE to keep a 16:00/mile pace to avoid getting swept, they'll still give you your medals if you're over 16:00/mile and you finish ahead of the sweepers, and it's possible to cheat the corral placement system (see corral jumpers - I know someone who cheated with her corral placement, allowing her to start in the front half a couple of years ago, and she finished in something like 4:30 - still was allowed to finish, still got the half/GSC medals). You don't HAVE to finish the race to get a medal. And so on. I don't think this was as widely known a few years ago compared to now...so you have people that just want the medal/shirts/kudos, so they cheat. It just didn't used to be like that.

And to be clear, I do think that this stuff happens at ALL of the race weekends, it's just the most prevalent at Princess.

EDIT: I was bracing for the worst last year but thanks to decent corral placements and purposely going to the expo late in the day to avoid the nutso crowds, I had a pretty good experience.

 

[joan4mickey]

Remember when...

--the Princess Half weekend was in March and I could enjoy the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot
---there was only 3 corrals and we started at 6:30 or 7am (2009 and they realized it was the Sunday we changes our clocks for day lights saving time)
---there were Princesses at each mile marker on the long road back (mile 7-10)
---we got a plain bagel (yuck) and a banana at the end of the race
---they had a movie screen with old Mickey toons playing at the u-turn just before the overpass and mile 12

I may think of more later, those come to mind pretty quickly

 

[PrincessV]

My first WDW race was the Royal Family 5K in 2012... I registered less than a month before the race! And it was capped at 5,000 runners. (It was up to 10,000 in previous years, and I've seen speculation that it was maybe near 15,000 this year.)